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Victoria HarbourCats – HarbourCats Defeat Bells 7-6 in North Division Final; Face Corvallis for West Coast League Title

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August 13, 2023

VICTORIA, B.C. — For the third time in the last five seasons of play, the Victoria HarbourCats will play a one-game, winner-take-all contest for the West Coast League title.

And for the third time, that game will be played in Corvallis, OR.

The HarbourCats, looking to become the first Canadian-based team to claim the WCL crown, advanced to Monday’s game — which will start at 8pm at Goss Stadium, the time set due to extreme heat conditions— with a heart-attack of a 7-6 victory over the Bellingham Bells in Saturday’s game at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park.

The HarbourCats captured their third North Division playoff title (also doing so in 2017 and 2019, with no play in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic), but escaping the clutches of the Bells in the playoffs for the first time. Bellingham prevailed in previous meetings in 2016 and 2022.

The Bells started off strong on Saturday as the first two batters singled, followed by a three-run blast by Andrew Valdez — 3-0 before an out was recorded by HarbourCats starter Logan MacNiel. It didn’t get easier in the second as MacNiel put two runners on and both those runners scored to make it a 5-0 Bellingham lead after one and a half innings, quieting the crowd of more than 3,600.

That silence didn’t last long.

John Wilson, owner of The Wilson’s Group of Companies, alongside his grandkids after a couple ceremonial first pitches caught by local pitchers Mason Chamberlain (left) and Darius Opdam Bak (right).

Victoria scored two in the bottom of two off Isaac Yeager, the Bells starter, thanks to an error and a sacrifice fly, and the game was back in reach.

The big inning was the bottom of the fourth. The HarbourCats plated five to take a 7-5 lead, the last dagger a two-run, two-out single by Hudson Shupe off Trevor Moore, the third Bellingham pitcher of the inning.

Jake Finkelstein shut the Bells down in relief of MacNiel, with a dominant five and a third innings with two hits allowed, no runs, and three strikeouts. Josh Berenbaum then entered in the seventh and quashed a bases loaded jam, and pitched into the ninth.

Bellingham would make it exciting in the ninth, getting to within a run and having the tying run on second when Dustin Davidson induced a fly ball, and Brett Harvey closed it out with a fly to right and a pop up to first base to end it, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

Jack Johnson had three RBIs and a stellar defensive play at third base in the third inning, and Dallas Macias made a game-changing catch in left field in the sixth inning.

The West Coast League Championship game will be held in Corvallis, Monday night at 8pm.  The winner of this game will be crowned 2023 West Coast League Champions.

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Summer Collegiate

NightOwls get the call for International Events

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Righthanded pitcher Moosa Nonomiya, a 2024 Owl from Skagit Valley College, is a Japanese resident but his grandmother was from Pakistan, so he is going to be playing for Pakistan in Dubai in November at the Baseball United Arab Classic.

The tournament features nine teams, including India, Palestine, UAE and Pakistan, and is the top competitive event in the history of the Middle East and South Asia.

Nonomiya is also an outfielder for Skagit. Last summer, he started three games and made seven appearances in his 13.2 innings of work — and he has added velocity this fall after strong developmental work with NightOwls pitching coach Gorm Heimueller.

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Summer Collegiate

Nanaimo Boy Returns Home To Lead The NightOwls

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A local product is coming home to historic Serauxmen Stadium.

 

Cody Andreychuk, currently the Head Coach of the University of Pikeville (NAIA, Pikeville, Kentucky), has been named the new top coach with the West Coast League’s Nanaimo NightOwls. He assumes the post immediately.

 

“Cody is a perfect fit in so many ways to fill the role with Greg Frady stepping down last week,” said General Manager Tina Cornett. “We obviously love that he’s from Nanaimo and will connect with the community very well, but he has a track record of developing players and winning games and will bring that local pride to the NightOwls.”

 

Andreychuk, who has a degree in Sports Management and a Masters in Business Administration, resides in Pikeville with his daughter Harper.

 

“I’m grateful and humbled for the opportunity to be the next baseball coach for the Nanaimo NightOwls, and I’d like to thank Jim Swanson and the ownership group for believing in a local guy to come in and lead this program at historic Serauxmen Stadium,” said Andreychuk, 32.

 

“My daughter and I are excited to be back home on the island for the summer and I look forward to meeting all the fans throughout the season.”

 

Andreychuk has been head coach at UPike since July of 2021, and his Bears team posted a 30-19 record this past spring. Prior to that, he was at Lindsey Wilson College as both assistant and head coach, and served as an assistant at UPike in 2016 and 2017.

Andreychuk knows summer collegiate baseball well — he was hitting coach and camps coordinator for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks of the Cape Cod League, the top collegiate summer baseball league.

 

“Growing up in Nanaimo and playing baseball through the Nanaimo Minor Baseball Association still to this day are some of the most special memories I cherish. I hope we can impact the youth the same way I was impacted growing up playing baseball in Nanaimo.”

 

Andreychuk is certainly not a stranger to the WCL. In addition to supplying strong UPike players to WCL teams — Riley Paulino and Richtter Castillo among those to be NightOwls — he played for the Kelowna Falcons in 2013, posting a .298 average in 33 games, driving in 17 runs. He played collegiately for the VIU Mariners, and with Tusculum Pioneers of the South Atlantic College before embarking on his coaching career. He batted .437 over 29 games in his first year at Tusculum, with two home runs and 29 RBIs. With VIU, he set records for batting average and triples.

 

His younger brother Griffin was a star with the Victoria HarbourCats, playing three seasons and having his number retired at Wilson’s Group Stadium at Royal Athletic Park. He helped lead the HarbourCats to a then-league record 40-14 record in 2016, a team that set a WCL mark with 19 straight victories.

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Summer Collegiate

Frady steps down as NightOwls Head Coach

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It will be more than a little odd to not see Greg Frady in the Nanaimo NightOwls dugout next summer.

The veteran college and international coach has stepped down as Head Coach of the West Coast League team after three seasons of dedication to setting a strong culture with the Nanaimo NightOwls.

 

The search for a new Head Coach is expected to be completed shortly and even announced this coming week.

 

“Greg was our first coach, and his classy way of interacting with the community and leading our players and coaches will never be forgotten,” said Jim Swanson, Managing Partner.

 

“He set the tone for teams that performed well on the field, and handled themselves with tremendous class on and off the field — he set a professional tone for the NightOwls and was respected by the players and people around the league. We have been blessed to have someone I consider a close friend as our head coach.”

 

Frady, 61, and his wife Rhonda spent three summers in the Harbour City, enjoying the perfect weather and endless scenery. Frady, a US Open pickleball champion, gave back in many ways but one of them was to hold skills clinics with Nanaimo pickleball players, where he was always smiling and teaching.

Frady had the team in playoff contention all three years, alive for a spot the final week of the expansion 2022 season, and within a couple games of the top eight playoff spots in 2023 and 2024. The last two seasons, the NightOwls finished ninth overall in the 16-team WCL — and eight teams advance. Players selected in the MLB draft from those teams include Elijah Ickes (2023) and Connor Caskenette (2024).

 

Frady led the expansion edition to a 22-32 record, with a late shot to win the North Division second half, and then posted identical 26-28 marks in 2023 and 2024, for an overall mark of 74-88.

 

The Fradys have endured some exciting times in the last three years, including the wedding of daughter Bailey, and engagement of son Riley. They also, like all Floridians, have seen hurricanes make a mess of their lives and homes the last few years — Hurricane Ian did damage to their Port Charlotte home two years ago, and Hurricane Milton was a direct hit this past week, leaving the Fradys to deal with damage over the next while, and leading to the decision to let the NightOwls install a new Head Coach.

“We thank Greg and Rhonda — they are tremendous people, and they will always have so many friends in the mid-Island area,” said Swanson.

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